This was Prime Fedor

Fedor isn't a wrestler, never was.
Most of his takedowns were upper body after having already cracked the opponent with a big punch.
In the later part of his career he fought opponents that were very hard to take down, he would have never taken down fighters like Arlovski or Bigfoot, too big and skilled.


Not true...i have seen fedor many many times use his stand up to get in close and take the guy down and either ground and pound him or submit him...Fedor wasn't a wrestler? well he wasn't a standup fighter either...he used both..they fed off of each other...go watch his fight with heath herring...he took him down non stop...and ground and pounded his head in...and it's not so much taking the guy down..it's getting your opponent to know it's coming and to worry about the takedown...that is what fedor had...that is what made his standup good...That is what he did with cro crop...he used the threat of the takedown to beat cro cop on the feet...without that, hed never ever beat cro cop in a standup battle.
 
GOAT... but honestly I believe the decline had already started at that point.. Tim's decline was just far worse to possibly expose anything lol
 
Not true...i have seen fedor many many times use his stand up to get in close and take the guy down and either ground and pound him or submit him...Fedor wasn't a wrestler? well he wasn't a standup fighter either...he used both..they fed off of each other...go watch his fight with heath herring...he took him down non stop...and ground and pounded his head in...and it's not so much taking the guy down..it's getting your opponent to know it's coming and to worry about the takedown...that is what fedor had...that is what made his standup good...That is what he did with cro crop...he used the threat of the takedown to beat cro cop on the feet...without that, hed never ever beat cro cop in a standup battle.
You can count performances like that Herring fight with one hand, mostly against the right opponents.
Against Singh Jaideep suddenly his ground game was there, but that was a right opponent.
 
Fedor's prime was 2005. That was when he was at his absolute peak in terms of speed, power, reflexes, grappling strength, chin, durability etc
 
The guy was blindingly fast for a HW, even a small HW.

The truly scary thing is that Alex was honestly the more physically talented of the two. He was just as fast and a whole lot bigger.

Not really.....

Aleks definitely had fast hands and good power but his defensive technique and fight IQ was and is much lower then fedors.Hence fedor being undefeated in 2 sports for a decade and Aleks not so much.

If Aleks really ever used his grappling offensively it would have opened up his striking much more but he rarely if ever did.
 
I can't remember the last time fedor took a guy down or submitted anyone...it's been years. he doesn't even try anymore...

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I think he was passing his prime here, but was still good. This, or the Arlovski fight would have been an epic time to walk away.

This. Obviously he was still amazing at this point, destroying a top 5 ranked guy in seconds, but I think his absolute peak was 2003-2005 or maybe till the end of 2006 (he started showing signs of looking sloppy and not fighting as smart against Hunt). So somewhere around when he was in his late 20s/early 30s. Even a fewyears past his prime he was so far ahead of everyone else he could still KO or submit top 5 guys like Sylvia and Arlovski in the first round, and have wars with much bigger top 10 guys like Rogers. But the signs were starting to show.

People should go back and watch that first fight with Nog to see the kind of damage Fedor could do from the guard, with the speed he had. I've been watching old pride and ufc events, in order, from the beginning over the last week and it's been pretty cool over all. I forgot how good guys like Sakuraba were, in their prime. They wee so fast and skilled. We tend to forget because we are so used to seeing them a decade or more past their prime.
 
The guy was blindingly fast for a HW, even a small HW.

The truly scary thing is that Alex was honestly the more physically talented of the two. He was just as fast and a whole lot bigger.

Never bought the Aleks myth.

Guy has been getting taken down at will through out his entire career, from Werdum to fucking Cro Cop throwing him around.

Yeah he had decent offensive hands, but the rest of his game was always lacking.
 
Never bought the Aleks myth.

Guy has been getting taken down at will through out his entire career, from Werdum to fucking Cro Cop throwing him around.

Yeah he had decent offensive hands, but the rest of his game was always lacking.

None of this has anything to do with his pure physical talent. Pretty sure even Fedor has said that Aleks is the more gifted athlete.
 
His trainers said they noticed a physical decline around the Arlovski fight. He lost a step in terms of reflexes and speed, but that he was able to compensate with experience.

Watching his fights, that's where it starts to go down hill in my eyes as well.
 
None of this has anything to do with his pure physical talent. Pretty sure even Fedor has said that Aleks is the more gifted athlete.
He wanted to motivate his brother who was wasting his talent...
 

A prime is something very relative...

From what I gathered here in this thread, people seems to prefer his Red Devil Days...

I personally prefer his RTT Days. With coaches like Volk Han & Kopylov, his game was more balanced...

Some sequences he had in Rings were already showcasin´ a mature fighter, grappling-wise particularly...
 
Never bought the Aleks myth.

Guy has been getting taken down at will through out his entire career, from Werdum to fucking Cro Cop throwing him around.

Yeah he had decent offensive hands, but the rest of his game was always lacking.

yes, it was lacking. because he never bothered to actually train. so much potential was squandered.
 
This. Obviously he was still amazing at this point, destroying a top 5 ranked guy in seconds, but I think his absolute peak was 2003-2005 or maybe till the end of 2006 (he started showing signs of looking sloppy and not fighting as smart against Hunt). So somewhere around when he was in his late 20s/early 30s. Even a fewyears past his prime he was so far ahead of everyone else he could still KO or submit top 5 guys like Sylvia and Arlovski in the first round, and have wars with much bigger top 10 guys like Rogers. But the signs were starting to show.

People should go back and watch that first fight with Nog to see the kind of damage Fedor could do from the guard, with the speed he had. I've been watching old pride and ufc events, in order, from the beginning over the last week and it's been pretty cool over all. I forgot how good guys like Sakuraba were, in their prime. They wee so fast and skilled. We tend to forget because we are so used to seeing them a decade or more past their prime.
When I first saw Fedor, against Herring, then Schilt, then Nog, he had a strong hairline and nobody ever referred to him as ‘that fat Russian’. He wasnt fat, yet. More like a fucking tank with obscene speed, great cardio and strong grappling. As he became a legend he stopped being a hungry fighter. Young Fedor shared a winter coat with his brother on the way to school. Young Fedor wasnt angry but he was hungry and desparate. He seems a genuinely nice man, and loves his family. Once he obtained fame and fortune and respect, it was natural that he would stop training to end people like an animal. The last time I saw animal Fedor was against Crocop, a fight he likely got himself up for based on it being the very last spike needed to seal himself as the greatest. Then, like you said, he waned but was still far enough ahead to gather some great wins.

The only hiccup he had in Pride up until that point was that punch from Fujita, which he recovered from, and which showed that he wasnt perfect. But he settled the boat and won immediately and, really wih what we know of how heavyweights hit, it is amazing that this was the only moment he looked in trouble over a span of many, many fights, likely 10 of which were against credible heavyweights.

The closest thing to an Ali our young sport has (although opposite in terms of amount of talking). A great, inspiring man who exhibits the virtues that every man should strive for, WHILE being the damned greatest fighter, too. And I am glad that he lost, because we got that wonderful quote, “The one who does not fall does not stand up.”

Great man, love him. Most of me wants him to retire on the Mir win, a small part hopes there is still some magic left in that old ..... fuck me, he even looks like Frosty the Snowman!
 
Great performance, but personally I think Fedor's decline began immediately following the CroCop fight.

Watching his career unfold, I feel like many of us started feeling uneasy about his motivation and focus before he left PRIDE. He looked bored and uninspired against Coleman, Hunt, etc.... by the time he hit Bodog/Affliction he was basically captain Russia and had stopped training seriously in favor of prayers and hanging with the Kremlin.

His unbelievable talent kept him afloat for a few more years, of course, but his "prime" ended with CroCop imho
ya. exactly.
 
Fedor isn't a wrestler, never was.
Most of his takedowns were upper body after having already cracked the opponent with a big punch.
In the later part of his career he fought opponents that were very hard to take down, he would have never taken down fighters like Arlovski or Bigfoot, too big and skilled.

Prime Fedor might have tripped BF.. He would have transitioned from punches to TD like he always did. Fesor also lost 10 lbs of muscle, and gained 5 lbs of fat. He couldn't afford to lose that muscle.
 
When I first saw Fedor, against Herring, then Schilt, then Nog, he had a strong hairline and nobody ever referred to him as ‘that fat Russian’. He wasnt fat, yet. More like a fucking tank with obscene speed, great cardio and strong grappling. As he became a legend he stopped being a hungry fighter. Young Fedor shared a winter coat with his brother on the way to school. Young Fedor wasnt angry but he was hungry and desparate. He seems a genuinely nice man, and loves his family. Once he obtained fame and fortune and respect, it was natural that he would stop training to end people like an animal. The last time I saw animal Fedor was against Crocop, a fight he likely got himself up for based on it being the very last spike needed to seal himself as the greatest. Then, like you said, he waned but was still far enough ahead to gather some great wins.

The only hiccup he had in Pride up until that point was that punch from Fujita, which he recovered from, and which showed that he wasnt perfect. But he settled the boat and won immediately and, really wih what we know of how heavyweights hit, it is amazing that this was the only moment he looked in trouble over a span of many, many fights, likely 10 of which were against credible heavyweights.

The closest thing to an Ali our young sport has (although opposite in terms of amount of talking). A great, inspiring man who exhibits the virtues that every man should strive for, WHILE being the damned greatest fighter, too. And I am glad that he lost, because we got that wonderful quote, “The one who does not fall does not stand up.”

Great man, love him. Most of me wants him to retire on the Mir win, a small part hopes there is still some magic left in that old ..... fuck me, he even looks like Frosty the Snowman!
"The closest thing to an Ali our young sport has"

"And I Am MMA´s Sugar Ray..."

kazushi-sakuraba.jpg
 
Fedor at his peak was tooling the Nogs and Crocops of the day and People still like to discredit him because he wasn't in the UFC fighting Gan Magee and Paul Buentello
 
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